Wednesday, May 22, 2013

a savage capitalism surrounds us

There are local problems too, that are different from the international church. Yes, there is a monarchial model, but in the US it is worse. In the US it is an american business corporate model. For all extensive purposes, Mitt Romney and Richard Lennon are indistinguishable as executives. Self-justifying Calvinism is part and parcel of both capitalism and americanism. Success is license, and under license there is no penalty for the successful. This creates a pitiless and unrepentant monster. Everything is his right (power), and wrong is not an applicable category. Those not having power are not to be considered.

But there is hope beyond the sea. Our Pope Francis at least sees and speaks of the problem. On May 21st he said,"A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people..." Earlier, at Mass on Mayday he spoke of the Bengali clothing factory where more than a thousand perished, "A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was 'Living on 38 euros a month'. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour". "Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!" Francis sounds like a modern day Amos, or Micheas, or Jeremias.

Woe
to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in
judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay
him his wages. — Jeremias xxii.13.

Few priests in this diocese say words like that at Mass. Here in America, secular and religious, big money dictates. What American politician would ever use the phrase 'savage capitalism'? Every idiot on Fox would have a conniption, they would be demanding immediate impeachment. Bernie Sanders is a socialist, and a US senator, and the microphone and camera never find him; beyond that who? Not even the fantasy Kenyan immigrant would be attributed those words, not in his 50s Eisenhower mode, perhaps in the late January '61 cameo. Certainly not the bishop protector [Robert Morlino] of the Ayn Rand acolyte [Paul Ryan], and the anti-labor Wisconsin governor, and the apologist for the School of Assassins at Ft. Benning. No, the United States is the defender of savage capitalism. It is not 'an invisible hand' it is a richly gloved, and ringed hand that clenches into a fist, when it is not pointing directions. To be a good Christian, and a good citizen one is called to be in opposition to, at least, the policies of our leaders.

This savage capitalism has permeated the country. It is true that New Deal America allowed Americans to prosper, but this brutal greed has eroded that. It has seen a push to take away what was gained, and it finds new people from poorer countries to abuse. It levels prosperity downward towards slavery, and as economic rights diminish, so do political, social, and religious rights. This savage capitalism allows a very, very few to rule the masses. These economic royalists rule society, and control government, and ever increasingly so. In the church the same arrogance of power also holds. The average parishioner has the same standing as the average laborer. Instead of a brotherhood of 'we' or 'us', it is the exalted one over the very many. Our Pope Francis is giving us hope. He does not have the power to right governments, but he can govern our church, and shame the rich. Will bishops like Lennon, Morlino, and Finn fade from the scene? Will priests challenge Catholics to act as Christian citizens?

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